Oregon Citizens Start Petition To Create New Nation “Cascadia”

Two days after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, two Portlanders have submitted a petition for a 2018 ballot initiative to have Oregon secede from the United States. On Thursday morning, Jennifer Rollins, a lawyer, and Christian Trejbal, a writer, filed the Oregon Secession Act.

“Oregonian values are no longer the values held by the rest of the United States,” Trejbal said over the phone Thursday.

“Obviously,” he said, the ballot proposal “came about partially in response to the election results on Tuesday.”

“But,” he added, “it’s been developing over time.”

Trejbal said that he and Rollins are hoping to start a serious conversation in Oregon about what it would mean to peacefully leave the United States. They opted for 2018 to give Oregonians some time to really think about what seceding from the union would mean. Some Californians have already expressed interest in seceding and the language of the Oregon proposal includes the option to bring other states into a “Constitutional Convention.”

Trejbal said that joining forces with other states like Washington, California and Nevada is “a viable way to go forward.”

These states, he said, “could all get together and form a nation that uphold the values that we share.”